channel. i'm jon scott. "special report" is up next. captioned by closed captioning services, inc 6 >> let me begin expressing gratitude to the people of newtown, people of connecticut, president of the united states and frankly -- >> bret: this is a fox news alert. i'm bret baier in new york tonight. let's take you back to newtown, connecticut, where press conference has just begun. the connecticut governor malloy. listen in. >> children, beautiful, beautiful children. who had simply come to school to learn.

>> their day ended a different way than we could have imagined. as we stand here today we can't imagine what transpired there. evil visited this community today. it's too early to speak of recovery. but each parent, each sibling, each member of the family has to understand that connecticut, we're all in this together. we'll do whatever we can to overcome this event. we will get through it. but this is a terrible time for this community and for these families. our police personnel and others are doing the utmost to clear this situation as soon

as possible. to return these children to their parents. or these loved ones to their fellow loved ones as quickly as possible. we'll work with all of the residents of this community. and connecticut to make sure that we do, in fact, get through this. i was mayor of stanford on 9/11. when our state lost many of its citizens and i lost a number of my fellow citizens and friends. i never thought that in a public career that i would have to face these kind of circumstances or that they would visit themselves upon this community or the people of connecticut. we'll get through this. and our prayers, at this time have to go out to the

families, so as i began by thanking those with expressed their desires to be helpful, number one, way to be helpful is to say a prayer. or send a best wish, thinking of the individuals who have suffered so mightily today. thank you. >> bret: that is connecticut governor dan malloy with a brief statement there in newtown, connecticut. obviously, expressing grief there. after this horrific day. i'm bret baier in new york tonight. we begin our coverage from newtown. we begin with senior correspondent rick leventhal

who is live tonight near the school. hello, rick. >> reporter: bret, we just heard from the governor, for the second time today. expressing his sorrow and his condolences to the families of all of those victims who suffer today at sandy hook elementary school in hang hang, which is in newtown, connecticut. as we now know a young man identified as adam lanza, 20 years old, went in to that school this morning, opened fire with apparently, with three weapons. glock handgun, another handgun and semi-automatic weapon and slaughtered 26 people inside that school before killing himself. we have now learned that adam lanza lived with his mother here in connecticut. woke up this morning, according to the federal source, shot his mother in the face. then took her car and went to her school and that is where this horrible shooting transpired. he killed 18 kids at the school. two children were found there and moved to a local hospital

where they died. six other adults before killing himself. we know that when police arrived on scene just after 9:30 this morning, they didn't waste any time. they went inside the school, locating adults and children and moving them out of the school to safety, that is then when they found the victims all located within two rooms of that school. one area of that school. so again, horrific set of circumstances here. we now understand that the father of the shooter is being questioned in new jersey by the f.b.i. there were early reports that he also had been killed. that is not the case. the father of adam lanza is being questioned by federal authorities in new jersey. the shooter's brother ryan lanza also apparently cooperating with authorities being questioned in new jersey. the shooter adam may have been carrying his brother's i.d. which led to early confusion about who the identity was. the shooter adam lanza, dead at the scene. slaughtered 26 people inside the elementary school, bret, before killing himself. and now police are going

through the grisly task of processing that crime scene. bret? >> bret: rick, they have been talking about processing the crime scene. you mentioned that and dealing with the families. and the bodies taking them out of there. what about processing that scene and trying to find out what was behind this guy and what was his motive, what happened with the background of this man? from the beginning. >> well, that kind of information, the best information about the mental condition of adam lanza will come from his father and his brother, who are being questioned by the federal authorities at this time. there may be writings or computer postings that they can locate from his mother's home. his mother, as we mentioned, has been killed. but the father and the brother could provide insight, some background to what the shooter's motives may have been. we have heard he was mentally troubled. may have been learning disabled in some way. that also is something that

the authorities will try to nail down, as they look for some kind of answer here. but this young man clearly had major issue this morning when he woke up and according to federal authorities killed his mother. went to her school after she was already dead. killed every kid in her class. >> bret: amazing. rick leventhal live outside the school. rick, thank you. flags in washington, d.c., have been lowered to half is the flag at the capitol building and we'll take a look at the flag at the white house lowered to half staff to remember the victims and the families. here to give us some perspective on the shootings, rich marionos, the assistant director and special agent in charge of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms and explosives. he is the lead investigator for control bum line shootings in 19 -- columbine shootings from 1999 and joins us in washington. rich, thank u for being here. this is a horrific investigation. first, it's tough to even deal

with to start the investigation for experts who have been talking about this all day. they said it's tough to even do it. once you get in to it, what are they doing from the beginning to begin their looking in to this guy and starting the evidentiary gathering? >> guest: i never thought once again in my entire career i'd go through another incident similar to columbine. the entire bureau and the law enforcement members are just saddened and send our sympathies out to the families. we as an agency with atf and the partners are so commit to make sure that we come up with a motive and come up with every answer to try to ascertain how this event happened. what they will be going the next 24 hours which is extremely important is to identify the victims with the medical examiner. they will also be conducting many tests, forensic tests on the weapons, the ballistics evidence, checking the different locations where the

offender, or any other offenders may be in association with this guy. occupied or anyplace they may secreted any additional evidence. they are going to try toto look i'm sure from the lessons learned from the various investigations we have taken part in. to do a full data mine in social media, to find postings to lead to motive, phone record, credit card purchases to do a complete dig-in data mine to establish how such a senseless tragedy could happen again in united states. >> bret: quickly, has anything changed with school security? this was an elementary school. but has anything changed around the country with school security since columbine? >> i think the school security in the united states has gotten much, much better. i think we have done a tremendous job in law enforcement, and throughout this country to work on plans for active shooters. as you could see the tremendous job that the law enforcement community did by getting in their quickly and

swiftly and securing the safety. the other members of the school and the other children. school safety we do a better job. many school systems we utilize electronic identification. signage sheets. one access to get in. one entry to get in one exit to get out. we have come a long way since columbine. to get to your point, we still need to improve. part of improving is for all of us in the law enforcement community to take the lessons learned from all the shootings, from virginia tech, columbine or this and pull resources together to come up with solutions based work to provide school system and work in concert with them to make the schools that much safer. we are also a democracy. country that is based upon freedom. we don't want to lock down our schools in some form that gives away that freedom.

>> bret: rich, assistant director and special agent in charge of atf. rich, thank you so much be. back with you a little later. still ahead, white house reaction to today's events. an emotional reaction at that. we will continue our coverage of the deadly school shooting in connecticut. keep it here. >> our hearts are broken today. for the parents and grand parents, sisters and brothers of these little children. and the families of the adults that were lost.

>> bret: welcome back to "special report" on a night of almost unimaginable sorrow for parents and others in newtown, connecticut, 65 miles from us here in new york. police say a gunman dressed in black body armor came in to the sandy hook elementary school this morning and started opening fire. when it was over, 27 were dead

at the school. six adults, and 20 children. along with the gunmen. police say one other doesn't was killed elsewhere. believed to be the shooter's mother. an emotional president obama spoke this afternoon about the shootings. chief white house correspondent ed henry has that part of the story. >> the majority of those who died today were children. beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old. >> president obama struggling to keep his composure, the grief of an entire nation visible in the tears he tried and failed to suppress. >> they had their entire lives ahead of them. birthdays, graduations, weddings. >> earlier the president spoke to connecticut governor dan malloy, as well as f.b.i. director robert mueller who is coordinating the investigation with state authorities. >> i offer governor malloy by condolences, on behalf of the nation. and made it clear he will have every single resource that he

needs to investigate this heinous crime, care for the victims, counsel their families. we have had too many tragedies in the past few years. >> partisan bickering seem unimportant. deliberations of the looming fiscal cliff uninterrupted. >> at pl 10:30 this morning in the oval office the president was notified by the homeland security advisor john brennan of the shooting in newtown, connecticut. at a school. the president, receiving regular updates as more information becomes available. >> the president has received many of those emergency updates over the last four years. from a congresswoman shot at a super market in tucson, arizona. she survived but six others did not. >> our hearts are broken by the sudden passing. our hearts are broken. >> to an aurora colorado movie

theater this past summer. >> 12 dead. >> when you have an opportunity to visit with families who have lost their loved ones as i described to them, i come to them not so much as president, as i do as a father. and as a husband. >> late they're same month the president faced criticism from liberals for speech to the national urban league. >> when i said in the wake of tucson was we were going to stay on this persistently. >> the where he talked about violence but carefully danced around the issue of gun control and offer nod specific plans for follow-through. >> we identify gun ownership that pass on from generation to generation that hunting and shooting are part of cherished national heritage but i also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree ak-47s belong in the hands of seasonals not in the hands of criminals. >> today, dramatic chief. specific promise of action in the second term. >> these neighborhoods are our neighborhoods.

the children are our children. >> we have to come together to take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this regardless of politics. >> for now, the president ordered flags be flown at half staff, military posts public buildings and grown and including the white house. where there is a grieving staff and first family. >> this evening, michelle and i will do what i know every parent in america will do, which is hug our children tighter. and we'll tell them that we love them. >> captain mark kelly, husband of former congresswoman gabrielle giffords said today that she sends her prayers from tucson, and he added a meaningful discussion of the nation's gun laws can no longer wait. bret? >> bret: ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. this was one of the worst school shootings in american history. we will have the latest on historic and tragic shootings in connecticut. when we come back.

>> the children obviously were very shaken. they were crying in the closet, in the closet of the art room. eventually, they were leaving and when they were leaving the police made them hold hands, the police told them to close their eyes. ♪

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moments ago, eric holder spoke out about the shootings. >> as a nation, we have to ask ourselves hard questions. we gather too often to talk about these kind of instances. we need to discuss, who we are as a nation. talk about the freedoms that we have, the rights that we have and how they might be used in a responsible way. >> bret: there will be a lot of people analyzing what he

said there. mass shootings like this have become all too common and like this one, like others, it's sure to spark new arguments on both sides of the gun control issue. tonight, chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge looks at the history and particularly gruesome year. >> you can never be prepared for this type of incident. what has happened and transpired will leave a mark on this community and every family impacted. >> whether it's the searing images from newtown, connecticut, the panic at a mall in portland, oregon, on tuesday, when two holiday shoppers were killed by a single shooter or mass murder as sikh temple in wisconsin in august, they can't begin to explain the loss. >> the statistic provide cold comfort for what happened today. if you look at an event like today you think we have got a problem. we have to do something.

whatever you do, you need to make sure that it's something that, you know, is going to be effective. >> while the worst school shooting in history remains virginia feck in 2007 where 32 were gunned down bay student the recent crime dated from the justice department that runs through 2008 shows that multiple victim homicides in this country are rare. with less than 1% of the crimes involving five or more victims. >> gun homicide by individuals in the late teens and early 20s like the virginia tech gunman and friday's aed shoot rer down. according to federal data, gun homicides by persons between 18 and 24 peaked at 8600 in 1993 and dropped to half that by 2008. >> law enforcement has been making herculean efforts to prevent the tragedy we saw unfold today. efforts at law enforcement disposal range from gun

buy-back program, background checks and tart geted evident to interdict flow of illegal guns. >> while schools and communities far from newtown, connecticut posted metorials to honor the children and families that will never see another birthday, the law enforcement says the impact is amplified in age of instant communication. >> it's not that common but when it happens it's widely publicized. schools take additional precautions at this point in time to protect their teachers as well as the students. and doing drills periodically during the school year. >> april of this year, seven major shootings in the u.s. alone, all involved a single shooter with multiple deaths. what is not clear tonight is whether this represents anykinde national statistics long-term, bret? >> bret: thank you. >> you're welcome. >> bret: go back out to newtown, connecticut. correspondent molly line is outside the home of a person believed to be the shooter's mother who was killed before the school massacre. hello, molly.

>> reporter: this is where adam lanza believed to have woken up this morning and shot his mother before taking her car and heading to the school. doing something so far from what this community what been preparing for. we're in a neighborhood filled with christmas lights. now this community instead of preparing for all of that joy will be facing deep sadness. a steady stream of police vehicles driving in the usual peaceful new england town served as a constant reminder of the tragedy that transpired here. anna was working in her cafe when news of the shooting broke. the place filled with mothers getting morning coffee. >> we started to freak out not knowing if it's the high school, people were crying not knowing. a couple minutes later they found out it was sandy hook elementary school and i had a customer with two young children. i think one kindergarten age and she was totally scared. i read it on her face. >> residents were shocked, most not wanting to talk. the emotion of the day evident on their faces.

the small central village area filled with stores that cater to kids and the sign in the window, of a fun cut hair salon and consignment shop says it all. inside, the owner was trying to come to grips with the loss of so many children. >> i know the whole town, practically. i'm just worried and i'm sad. it put myself in their position. it's terrible. it's a shocking thing, because you see this on tv and some place else. you don't think of it, as being here. >> grass the sadness they will face in coming days. more than two dozen people will be laid to rest, 20 of them children. >> bret: we don't still have the names of the victims, right? have they been all notified? >> authorities are holding those names very close to the vest right now, understandably. they want to give the parents of the children and also of the other people that were killed first knowledge of

this. and time to prepare. bret? >> bret: of course, of course. bill hemmer -- thank you, molly line, outside the home of the mother believed to be killed there. bill hemmer is live outside sandy hook elementary school, the site of today's shooting. when we come back, our continuing coverage here on fox news channel. keep it here. >> my son was at the gym when it happened so i think he heard the gunshots. so it's -- they were both, i think it will be one of those things where you try to understand what happened. when we tell them ultimately what happened in details, i think it will make it much worse. ♪ ♪ this holiday, share everything.

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children, beautiful, beautiful children, who had simply come to school to lear learn. and their day ended a very different way than any of us could possibly have imagined. quite frankly, as we stand here today, still can't imagine what transpired there. evil visited this community today. >> bret: that was connecticut governor dan malloy. as we have been telling you throughout the afternoon, heavily armed man opened fire inside a school. elementary school in connecticut today. the results were almost impossible to comprehend. 20 children killed. age 5 to 10.

six adults. the shooter also died. he apparently killed at least one other adult believed to be his mother at another locatio location. bill hemmer is live outside sandy hook elementary school in newtown and joins us live this evening. bill, we are just getting word of some news about the guns the shooter used. >> yes, bret. fox news can confirm that the three guns tied to the grisly murder scene were owned by the shooter's mother nancy lanza who also has a relationship as a teacher with this school. what we are starting to piece together here is the timeline, that began at daybreak earlier today. when this young man got out of bed. took one of those gun, shot his mother in the face. took her car, and drove to the school here, a small elementary school in the picturesque part of connecticut and taking the lives of 20 children ages 5 and 6. all in kindergarten, six other

adults inside. that building as well. i tell you, bret, after being here for a couple of hours, what is striking this is small town america. beautiful wooded area of rolling hills. this time of year you think of christmastime a few weeks from now and if the snow starts to fall around here it's a picturesque community. one can only imagine how beautiful it is. but that beauty has been absolutely shattered by the description of the grisly scene inside of this school building. earlier today, some of the police described it as not a simplistic scene. imagination starts to run you start to think about these children inside these two different rooms. in one section of the school. the bodies have not been removed. they are still inside that building because police say we need to answer every question. that will take some time. certainly to try and sort this out, as we work through this, in the coming hours and the coming days. so many wonderful why would this happen? and why -- so many wondering why would this happen and why

the children? certainly, they did not deserve this. >> bret: about those weapon, we're confirming that all three weapons were registered, legally purchased and registered to the gunman's mother. according to law enforcement officials. we're also being told there was 223 bushmaster rifle and two handguns recovered at the school. the authorities not saying how many shots were fired. but as you mention, that scene gruesome for all the authorities who have to go in there. for that community to deal with, that you are there on the ground. the nation is reacting but there on the ground, what is it like? >> this town has one stopligh stoplight. sandy hook. you can walk through it in a minute's time. it's that small. you can imagine how neighbor knows neighbor and family knows family and how it would rip apart any community much less the town of sandy hook

here in southwestern connecticut. the police by the hour have been giving us updates but i'll be frank, there are very few facts coming out about the story. that tells me they are peeling back the layers and trying to piece it together. you can imagine the confusion that resulted starting at 9:30 this morning, trying to find his gunman, locate the relationship, who is he relationship to, mother and his father and relationship with his brother. all of this stuff is starting to evolve throughout the night. we expect a briefing sometime soon. when we do, maybe, slowly, bret, we can piece it together. more at 7:00 on the "fox report" live from here. >> bret: we'll see you 20 minutes. thank you, buddy. return now to washington. more with rich marianos who was the lead investigator in columbine in 198 # 9.

you heard -- 1999. you heard about the guns that were registered to the mother and that is serious fire power for shooter to have used. what about this, in this investigation. we hear about the lone wolf shooters and the authorities worried about them. today's tragedy really is a worse case scenario where it seems like they are digging for derogatory information about the guy. it's early but we are not hearing anything about this guy or any history of yet. >> well, because law enforcement wants to conduct a professionable investigation. they don't want to release evidence or anything to create prejudice among the community, jury if a criminal will be charged. and wants to keep a little bit of respect for the family members without turning this in to a circus. >> bret: yeah. >> guest: we have done a good job with that in terms of limiting the information, making this what it's about.

it's about the tragedy that happened in a community. put a full court press together with law enforcement components and trying to be respectful that we don't jeopardize any part of an investigation. or a potential prosecution. or create debate among both sides. just using this issue. >> bret: i fully understand that, rich. i guess my point is how can the authorities stop someone who perhaps has no indication of trouble in the past? that is the real challenge. >> the challenge for law enforcement, not just here but everywhere. we need more community approach. we need everyone working together on this issue to identify people that, identify where the criminals are purchasing fire arms. to identify where violent crimes are taking place and the guns are used. to identify criminals that are putting the guns in the hands of criminals. you know it's about crimes gun and crime problem, violent crime problem. in order to solve this we all need to work together. all federal agencies, local

police, community group, gun dealers, the media. the only way we'll sol tv is a combined effort and make the country what we love and respect. >> bret: sure. these were legally purchased and registered guns of the mother. >> i'm not going to comment about the evidence right now because it's too early to tell. we don't have witnesses to put the gun in the offender's hand at this time. for to us qualify or make a statement of who purchased them would be unfair to community and unfair to the public and the poor family members dealin dealing with the tragedy. i can guarantee you, though, atf is putting a full court press guard identifying if the guns were purchased illegally and put hands of violent criminal we'll put a stop to it and put person behind bars with all the evidents we have. >> bret: rich, i appreciate you sticking around. >> thank you very much, bret. thank you for your compassion and your time on this issue. >> bret: we can't make sense of this. but we can discuss it. the fox all-stars are next.

connecticut school shooting and the analysis. when we come back. ♪ ♪

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bruising, bleeding, or paleness. if you've had enough, ask your dermatologist about enbrel. the majority of those who died today were children, beautiful kids between the ages of five and ten years old. >> they had their entire lives ahead of them. birthday, graduations, weddin weddings, kids of their own. among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives toping our children fulfill their dreams. so our hearts are broken

today. for the parents, and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. >> bret: an emotional president obama, reacting to the school shooting in newtown connecticut. for analysis go to washington, d.c. and panel. fred barnes of "weekly standard." kirsten powers for daily beast. syndicated columnist charles krauthammer. charles, words today? >> the first thing to say in looking at this or analyzing this requires a huge amount of humility. the true fact is we do not know and often even after these events are analyzeed and thought through, we really don't know. this is the problem of evil. and it's been struggled with forever. what we know about the current shooting is that people are

divided in three camps. three elements. psychology of the shooter, you have the weapon, and you've got the cultural environment. people will choose whichever cause they want to blame. they will say it's guns that were available. laws ought to be tightened, although the brady campaign says connecticut has the four strictest laws in the country. then you have the environment. people on the right, tend to say that our culture decen decenttizing young -- de-sensitizing people in movies and video games to kill in way older generation find disturbing. i tend to gravitate toward the psychology of the killer. when you think about the details of the crime, he began by shooting his mother in the face. taking her weapon and then destroying everything precious to her. her colleagues and her children. then killing himself. that i think is where i would start. although i think all the

issues have to be discussed. >> bret: kirsten? >> yes, i think all the issues have to be discussed but the psychology part has to be paired with the semi-automatic weapon in order for something like this to happen. as the president said today we need to have some meaningful action, to deal with this issue. this is something now that is starting to almost become epidemic in our country. it's not -- in my entire childhood i don't -- you know, if it happened, this was such a rarity. it's now almost commonplace. this shootings. this is particularly terrible because it involved all the young children. 5-year-old. the innocent of the innocent you can think of. but i think we have to look at the factors, mental health factors. are we looking for signs, are we offering mental health treatment to people? but also looking at the gun laws, do we have the right gun

laws? all the differents a spents of it -- aspects of it and try to seriously address the issue and not just throw up our hand and say well, there is nothing we can do about it. these things just happen. these things just shouldn't happen. >> bret: fred, attorney general holder earlier talked about freedoms and age losing what happened today -- analyzing what happened today in contrast or context of our freedoms. >> well, one of the freedoms we have had in this country ratified by the supreme court the right to bear arms. individuals can do it an they do. but there are other countries where arms are plentiful, countrys like israel and switzerland we don't have the same homicide rate we have in the united states. we don't have the mass killings over and over again. my are action was oh, not again. that was a lot of people's reaction. the problem is the united states is one that charles

mentioned; the psychology of the people who do the killings, virginia tech, columbine, theater in aurora, colorado and all the killings. we have to find ways to keep guns out of the hands of these people. it's hard to do. look, the guns belong to this killer's mother. she had them at the home. the son not old enough to own a firearm got them and took them and used them. i don't know how you could really stop that. even in a state, as charles said, with pretty strict gun control laws. the problem is we do have -- compared to other countries with a lot of gun, a culture of violence in this country that allows, that allows a lot of violent acts to happen. they weren't cus curbed well hee and people do get guns. look, we are not going to been n guns in this country.

we can curb the number of them but these were legally owned guns and were used by presumably, a psychotic person. hard to stop that. >> bret: charles, if you a parent tonight put on the psychiatrist hat and your child, what do you say to them? >> i mean wefully a culture you can't escape from the events. which citizen tragic. so everybody is exposed. all you can do is provide them safety and love. no explanations that's not what you do. show them you will protect them, because you love them. they do not have to fear. that is all you can say. >> bret: panel, as always, tough day, but thank you. next up, reaction from all over the country to today's events. ♪ ♪

>> bret: now reaction from around the country. chief washington correspondent james rose season live tonight in d.c. hello, james. >> bret, good evening. there were some folks that i spoke with this afternoon who hadn't heard about the massacre, some overseas tourist, people stepping out of museums but most had heard. like you and me they were changed forever. >> maybe 45 or -- >> for millions of americans the gruesome news came in bits and pieces. >> first, they learned there had been a school shooting, then a fatal one, then a tragedy of unfathomable proportions. >> why are people doing things likebe this? i don't understand what makes people evil that would just want to go and kill innocent people. >> it's just the worst, most devastating stuff. really sad to realize our society has come to this place. >> i'm sorry. it's crazy.

i can't believe people are doing that. >> it is very upsetting, children, who haven't lived, haven't experienceed anything. and taken so early. it is very shocking. >> what was supposed to be a season of joy darkened, as manuals of children hearded out of sandy hook elementary school, the lucky kids who made it out alive and still may face years of trauma from the event cut to the core of parents everywhere. >> i cried and i cried and my daughter called me who has a child in kinder garden, first grade and in second grade and she couldn't stop crying. so it's a tragedy. as i said to her, you can't understand things like that. >> it's devastating. it really shook me. because i have, you know, son here in elementary school, and i can't imagine what the parents go through, the parents getting the cools. it's so unfortunate. it's tragic. it really hate that it even happened. it's just so sad. >> from columbine through virginia tech and the movie

theater in aurora up through this week's mall shooting outside of portland, oregon, americans have become -- [ inaudible ] idea of mass shooting but not to the horror, cruelty and enduring emotional impact of them. >> the community, create a community that is strong and a community that does sort of have those unsaid barriers. we don't accept that here. we are together. we're cohesive. >> we have a societal breakdown. i'm a teacher, so i see it at an operational level. there are people who take easy access to things to fill a fantasy or go nut their blaze of glory or whatever prompts them. >> i am glad that our doors are locked at all times. you can't get in them. that was my first reaction. then walking up to school today, i thought to myself, you know, i feel for the parents. it couldn't even imagine what they are going through. >> my mother regina rosennen of staten island, new york,

wrote hug your children for me when you get home. this has plunged the whole country in to terrible sadness. bret? >> bret: thank you. some final thoughts on a tragic day.

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